Chapter 2
Roark
Corridors inside the palace echoed in endless whispers and commands.
By the time I reached the passage that would take me to my wing in the royal house, three things were clear: The lost melder had been found, every clan from here to Myrda were going after the girl, and the Dark Watch was to slaughter the woman on sight.
Jorvandal would not have the chance to take another melder.
Once this woman was gone, no doubt, my mother and father would turn the attention of the Dark Watch to kill Melder Fadey. The man was horrid. Rumors of his brutality had already reached our borders. He melded under the direction of the Jorvan king without remorse.
More Beserkirs had been crafted under Fadey than any melder before him.
He needed to meet the gods in Salur.
At the bend in the corridor, I bid Gunter and the twins farewell. Their fathers would be meeting the Dark Watch soon enough. Until we were in our fifteenth seasons, no one would allow any of us to leave the borders of Dravenmoor during a raid.
We’d be left behind while our warriors sought honor and prestige from the gods.
With quick steps, I hurried down a side hallway until I paused at an arched door that was not my own. One ear pressed to the wood, I held my breath, listening. There was movement inside, rustling, the click of buckles and the hiss of steel sliding into a leather sheath.
The latch clicked and I slipped inside. The moment I crossed the threshold, cool steel notched under my chin. One move forward and the knife’s edge would dig into the flesh of my throat.
“Thought I told you to take softer steps when you’re sneaking, little brother.” Nivek, arm straight and steady, held the blade to my throat. He was no fool on the battlefield. No mistake, he could flick his wrist and end me before I even moved if he desired.
I glared at him. “I’m not sneaking.”
My brother removed the knife and shoved the point into a sheath on his thigh. Gold burned from my eyes brighter than the copper gleam of my brother’s. Almost the same, enough to assume we were blood, but it was as though life had shadowed more of Nivek’s gaze.
“What are you doing here, Roark?” Nivek turned his back on me. “You need to stay in your chamber tonight. Be ready to take cover should raid warnings reach our gates, understand?”
“Where are you going?” I followed my brother, trying to keep his long pace as he strode back and forth across his bedchamber, gathering supplies.
Nivek ignored me for a moment, took a sealed parchment to the window and handed the missive to a raven waiting on the sill. Before my brother handed over the note, he pressed it to his lips, then tied it to the leg of the bird.
“Who’s that going to?”
“Someone important to me.”
“Who?”
“Roark, be gone.” Normally playful, but tonight Nivek seemed to have little patience for my presence.
I didn’t care, I wanted to know every detail. “The Dark Watch is going to get her, aren’t they? The melder woman.”
Nivek finished lacing his jerkin with a double-headed raven over his shoulders and sighed. “The melder was found, yes.”
“Where?”
My brother sighed with irritation. “Seems her folk might be aiming for the Night Ledges. They’ve taken refuge in the border villages.”
“Wait.” I paused. “Our border villages? In Dravenmoor?”
“With Jorvans hunting her with Myrdan blood tracking spells, seems they thought the Dravens were less of a risk.” Nivek spoke, but it almost seemed like there was more he kept to himself, like he only gave up half a tale.
Still, all this damn time the melder had been in our lands.
“I want to go,” I said. “I want to help.”
“No. You’d get your skinny neck slit by some sodding Stav Guard. Scouts have already sent word; the Black Fjords are full of their longships.”
“Good. I want to fight for our folk. I’m not afraid of Stav Guard.”
Nivek chuckled and shoved another knife into a sheath he kept tucked in his boot. “Ah, little brother, and that is why you’re not ready to join the Dark Watch. You should always keep a fearful respect for your enemies.”
I huffed and hurried to stand in front of my brother before he could abandon the room. “I’ve been practicin’ and after what melders cost our house, I want to fight. With you.”
Nivek tilted his head toward the ceiling and muttered what I thought was a prayer to the gods for patience.
He lowered to one knee, so our gazes aligned. “Brother, I know you want to join the Dark Watch. And you will. You’re a terror, I have no doubt someday soon you’ll strike fear into the hearts of all you meet on the battlefield. But tonight is not that night.”
My throat tightened. “I want Jorvans and melders to pay for what they did, Nivek. What they did to our father.”
“Hush. Our king and queen made their choices, not a melder, all right?” His jaw pulsed. “Our house remains strong even with the troubles we’ve faced.”
No one spoke about my father’s predicament, the sacrifice the Draven king made to protect the souls of the fallen.
In truth, I did not understand it all either.
Only, that after whatever he’d done to protect our kingdom, my father did not always recognize me, his words did not always make much sense, and it seemed only my mother could calm him.
Uncle Virki said the king and queen no longer had a soul bond and I hated to think it.
Why would my mother and father do such a thing to destroy what the Draven clan held most sacred? A sjeleven bond, a true joining of two souls, was coveted, powerful, and somehow the king and queen had destroyed theirs.
Or so folk said.
Seemed my mother still had the trust of my father if she was the only one who could calm his confused mind.
“Roark.” Nivek drew my attention. “I must go. Stay here and guard the royal house. I need you to look after Mother, yes?”
I rolled my eyes. What good would I be here? My mother would likely see to it that I was locked away in my chamber or the secret rooms where we practiced hiding for mock raids.
I shook my brother’s hand off my shoulder. “I’m not a babe. I can do more and—”
Another horn bellowed through the corridors. Nivek’s mouth tightened.
He rose and secured the sheath on his belt.
“Stay here, Roark. I mean what I say.” His words were swift and harsh, but Nivek paused at the doorway, a small grin on his features.
“I know you won’t believe me, but one day you will pray these nights don’t happen.
Enjoy your peace for a moment longer, little brother. ”
On his next step, I held out a hand.
“Nivek.” I waited until he looked at me again. “Um, don’t go to Salur.”
He chuckled. “Don’t fret. I’ve too much to live for to meet the gods tonight. I’ll tell you everything over saffron cakes come dawn.”
Then he was gone.
Alone in my brother’s chamber, only sounds of the Dark Watchers leaving and the frantic shouts of the farewells from their families could be heard.
I hurried to the window. Rows and rows of our warriors were clad in black, hoods over heads, swords and axes secured to their shoulders. They marched toward the far gates.
No mistake, they’d be at the border villages by nightfall.
My mother would be terrified should she find me missing. Nivek would be furious if I didn’t follow his word. For a breath, another, then another, I repeated the same thoughts.
Until, unbidden, like a rope unseen tugged at my middle, I spun on my heel and raced for my bedchamber. I’d hidden away a small paring knife and a dagger gifted from my father’s father before he met the halls of Salur.
I made quick work of securing the blades to my belt, tossing a woolen cloak over my shoulders, and sneaking through the back doorway of my chamber.
The corridor led to the washrooms in the royal wing. Caverns with stone basins where natural warm springs were filtered through canals around the royal house. No one would be near the back of the palace.
Fara wolves were free of the pens in their keep. They’d be following half the Dark Watch on a different route through the woods to cut off any Myrdan Shield Riders or Jorvan Stav Guard who stepped foot on our lands.
Mother would be furious, but…she’d forgive me when I avenged my father for what the Jorvans and their melders had done.
She’d understand.
So would Nivek.
I’d be the first Draven to join the Dark Watch before my thirteenth season instead of waiting until fifteen.
With my hood pulled low, my blades secured, I moved like a wraith, as Nivek taught me, and slipped into the back wood. I’d move faster than the full Watch. They’d never know I was there until it was too late.
A grin split over my mouth, my blood rushed in my veins.
I had a melder to find and kill.